The present invention relates to an intramedullary nail which is fixable by means of locking screws for the operative treatment of fractures of long tubular bones and a device to carry out the method.
The intramedullary nail first introduced by Kuntscher in 1940 is today one of the most widely used methods for the operative treatment of fractures of long tubular bones. Some of the advantages over other methods are: stable fixation of the fracture ends due to the internal bone splint; no operative opening of the fractured area, small risk of infection, short period of bed-rest, the patient can get up earlier without a plaster cast and a post-treatment is not necessary as muscular atrophy does not occur due to the patients freedom of movement.
The locking of the intramedullary nail is necessary for all fractures of the shaft as these remain unstable after normal intramedullar nailing. In the case of pseudarthrosis the proximal and the distal fragments are locked after the fracture has been located.
The problem with the locking screw is that it is difficult to find the bore holes for the locking screws in the intramedullary nail as the nail can bend while it is being inserted into the bone. An x-ray manipulator must be used to relocate the bore holes in such cases.